The people behind that Texas voter fraud ring have been identified

Last month we looked at the news out of Texas where prosecutors had uncovered an organized ring of people who were "harvesting" ballots and then "helping" voters (particularly senior citizens) fill them out. They were allegedly filling in ballots by the thousands in a clearly coordinated effort. It wasn't definitive who was behind the scheme at the time or which party the fraud was supposed to be supporting, though there were indications that the majority of the fraudulent ballots were cast for Democrats.

Now the prosecutors in the case have more details to provide to the public. I know that you'll be absolutely shocked to learn that funding for the operation was allegedly provided by a former County Democratic Party leader who also tried to get her associates to refuse to cooperate with authorities when the law was closing in. (Star-Telegram)

A Fort Worth woman recently indicted on voter fraud charges paid others involved in the scheme with funds provided by a former Tarrant County Democratic Party leader, court documents filed this week say.

After learning about a state investigation, Leticia Sanchez - one of four women arrested and indicted on voter fraud charges - allegedly directed her daughter to send a text message to others in the scheme, urging them not to cooperate with investigators, state officials say.

The allegations are made in the state's notice of intent to introduce evidence in Sanchez's criminal case, where state officials say she was among those who collaborated to vote for certain down-ballot candidates with a number of north side residents' mail-in ballots.

Sanchez's name came up in the original reports, but it wasn't immediately clear if she was in charge of the operation or just one of the shills. Now it looks like she was providing the funding to pay her operatives and run the scheme. But the other "workers" in the ballot manufacturing line weren't just random employees she picked up off the street. Stuart Clegg, also charged in the scheme, is described as a former executive director for the Tarrant County Democratic Party.

The method they used was actually almost clever. They allegedly were generating applications for absentee ballots in the names of other people, filling them out and then trying to get the voters to sign them. If successful, those ballots would have been very hard to detect during the final count since they were official documents mailed out by the state and signed by legitimate voters. Unfortunately for them, it all seems to have imploded.

So here's another case of that voter fraud which we are assured almost never happens. (Our colleagues at Twitchy had a field day with that topic. Follow the link for a few laughs.) But this is no laughing matter. How many ballots have these people filed in recent elections and did any get sent in for this year? If they've been processing them "in the thousands" as prosecutors allege, how many local, county or even congressional district races might have been impacted?

Hopefully, by the time the trial is concluded, we'll have answers to those questions and more.